Woman runs over, kills husband

Greg Risling

NEWPORT BEACH -- A 40-year-old woman, furious because her husband planned

to use the couple’s car, killed him with the very same vehicle Wednesday

morning when she ran over him at least two times, police said.

Leslie Claire Van Houten was arrested several hours later at a Costa Mesa

home where she worked as a caretaker. She was booked on suspicion of

murder and is being held in Newport Beach City Jail in lieu of $250,000

bail.

Authorities said the woman had argued with her 52-year-old husband,

Kenneth Jerome Van Houten, early Wednesday at their trailer park on the

800 block of West 15th Street.

Police said the two were fighting over who would take the couple’s 1993

purple Geo Storm. They couldn’t come to an agreement and Leslie Van

Houten reportedly drove to a spot near Hoag Hospital, where she planned

to hide the car from her husband.

The victim apparently knew where his wife was going and followed her on

his bike, police said. The man was carrying a bar lock he was hoping to

put on the steering wheel once his wife had left.

“He knew where her hiding place was,” said Newport Beach police Sgt. Mike

McDermott. “This was a domestic dispute that escalated into murder.”

Leslie Van Houten reportedly saw her husband riding his bike at about

8:10 a.m. near the intersection of Flagship and Patrice roads, less than

five blocks from the couple’s home.

Witnesses said she accelerated the car toward her husband and struck him

flush. She then reportedly put the car in reverse and ran over him as he

lay in the street. There were varying accounts, but it’s possible the

woman ran over the victim a third time, dragging the bicycle about 20

yards before speeding westbound on Flagship toward Placentia Avenue.

Police found Leslie Van Houten at about 1 p.m. Wednesday, but it was

several more hours before the car was found parked on 19th Street at

Monrovia Avenue.

“It was so vicious,” said Karina Levinson, who witnessed the incident.

“It sounded like someone hit a parked car.

“His legs were horribly mangled. He wasn’t moving at all.”

The crime scene contained a field of evidence that detectives marked

piece by piece. The man’s clothes were scattered along the street -- a

black baseball cap was feet away from a pair of brown shoes. The 10-speed

bicycle was a twisted heap of metal and plastic.

Kenneth Van Houten suffered major head injuries and was rushed to nearby

Hoag Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

“Anyone who would deliberately kill someone like that is plain sick,”

said Eileen Brown, who lives in the apartment-dense neighborhood where

the crime occurred. “I can’t believe someone would purposely do something

like that.”

Police could not explain the suspect’s rationale for allegedly running

over her husband, but suspect it may have to do with a threat of divorce

by the victim. Neighbors said the couple had volatile disputes, prompting

police to respond to their residence five times over the last year.

“They’ve lived here about two years,” said one neighbor. “The cops have

come out here before because of the noise.”

The couple have three children, all teenagers. They were taken into

protective custody.

It’s been a little more than three years since the last homicide in

Newport Beach. On Jan. 23, 1997, two Newport Beach men were involved in a

violent dispute over a woman who claimed she had been sexually assaulted

by one of them. Ryan Kerr, 25, a friend of the woman, stabbed the other

man, 26-year-old John Pavese, in the chest. Pavese grabbed a gun and

fired two shots, killing Kerr. A subsequent investigation concluded

Pavese had acted in self-defense.

* Daily Pilot staff writer Noaki Schwartz contributed to this

report.